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18 April 2012

I will indeed be getting back to the simplest climate model, including that comment from Nick Barnes that got clobbered by my fingers being fatter than my smartphone buttons. (Deleted rather than approved message, fortunately I still have it in email.)

While waiting for that, some video suggested by Hank Roberts in a comment a fair while back (December 9th, 2011):

Recommending -- from the AGU videos, Ben Santer on Steve Schneider.
He begins with a memorial -- Steve Schneider is part of history.
He goes on to a teaching story.http://vimeo.com/33387515
CG43G : AGU Fall Meeting 2011

AGU is the American Geophysical Union. I was surprised when, a while back, someone congratulated me on my 25 years as a member. They do some good work there. I just didn't realize that I was that old.

In a different mean time matter, I am starting to take http://penguindreams.wordpress.com/ live. There is much sawing and hammering still to do, but there are also a couple of real posts there already. My plan has always been for that blog to be the place where I don't restrain my use of math and scientific language. Questions are still, as always, welcome, including on that scientific language. If you don't have an intuitive idea already of what a Rossby radius is, do ask. Just that over there, I won't examine my language for such terms and go for verbal instead of mathematical descriptions. For those who'd like to get more in to guts of the science, a la scienceofdoom, that'll be the more apt place. If you think this blog is already scarily mathematical, that place might best be one to leave to other readers. The most recent note there is nonmathematical, just promises (threatens?) math to come. No plans to abandon this one. Just that sometimes things come up, such as Nick's questions/comments, where it would be easier to just whip out the mathematics straight off.

Also, now that I'm catching back up here (partial blame to my son who introduced me to World of Warcraft :-), there are answers showing up to long-asked questions. Or at least responses. Please check the 'recent comments' links below for yours Jacob.

No comments:

Welcome

I'll be trying what seems to be an unusual approach in blogs -- writing to be inclusive of students in middle school and jr. high*, as well as teachers and parents (whether for their own information or to help their children). To that end, comments will have to pass a stricter standard than I'd apply for an all-comers site. It shouldn't be onerous, just keep to the topic and use clean language.

I expect it to be fun for all, however, as you really can get quite far in understanding the world, even climate, by understanding this sort of fundamental. If I get too much less fundamental, let me know where I went astray.

* Ok, I concede that not many middle school students will get everything. Even a fair number of adults will find some parts hard to follow. Still, some middle school kids will have fun. And almost everyone will follow a number of posts just fine.

Please see the comment policy for details. And the link policy for details about that. The latter is more open than you might expect.

About Me

In my day job I work on the oceanography, meteorology, climatology, glaciology end of my science interests, but I'm interested in everything, science or not. So I've also been on stage in a production of Comedy of Errors, run an ultramarathon, and been to Epidaurus, Greece, to see a production of Euripides' Iphigenia among the Taurians
Prior to starting the current job, I was a post-doc in oceanography in the UCAR ocean modelling program, and earned my doctorate from the Department of the Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago (1989). My undergraduate degree involved Applied Math, Engineering, Astrophysics, and Glaciology.
Of course I don't speak for my employer, whoever that may be.